Gang-rape accused sent to jail

KARACHI, April 2: The civil judge and judicial magistrate, East, Javed Hussain, on Wednesday sent a security officer of the Mazar-i-Quaid to jail custody on a one-day judicial remand for his alleged involvement in the gang-rape of an 18-year-old woman on the premises of the mausoleum.

The court also directed investigation officer of the case to submit his final report till Friday. The IO told the court that no progress could be made towards the arrest of the co-accused in the case because the complainant and the victim were not cooperating with the police. The complainant has left for his native town.

The victim, along with her husband, is staying with a newly-elected PPP MPA. However, the IO said, efforts were being made to arrest the co-accused.

The police had arrested an assistant manager (security) of the mausoleum in connection with the gang-rape investigation. The woman was kidnapped and subjected to gang-rape on the night of March 15 and was found in an unstable condition outside the mausoleum on March 17. The victim had identified the suspect during an identification parade conducted in the court of the judicial magistrate on March 22.

The case (FIR No.50/08) was registered at the Brigade police station under the Section 365/B of Pakistan Penal Code (the section was inserted through the Protection of Women Act 2006) on the complaint of her father.

Earlier, the victim had recorded her statement under the Section 164 of CrPC before the court stating that about five men took her to a store room at the mausoleum at gunpoint and subjected her to sexual assault.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/3/2008